Pe  THE  SOULS  IN  a 

URGATORY 


I 

MODERN  PROTESTANT  VIEWS 

II 

THE  PROOFS  FOR  PURGATORY 

III 

WHY  AID  THE  POOR  SOULS? 

IV 

HOW  BEST  TO  HELP  THEM 


By  the 

Rev.  Joseph  Husslein,  S.  J. 

Associate  Editor  of  “  America  ” 


PRICE  TEN  CENTS 


THE  AMERICA  PRESS 
173  E.  83rd  St. 
New  York,  N.  Y. 


IMP  RIM  I  POTEST 

Joseph  H.  Rockwell,  S.J., 

Praep.-Prov.  Maryl.-Neo.  Eb. 

NIHIL  OBSTAT 

Arthur  J.  Scanlan,  S.T.D., 

Censor  Librorutn 

IMPRIMATURS 

Patrick  J.  Hayes,  D.D., 

Archbishop  of  New  York 


New  York,  Oct.  22,  1920. 


The  Catholic  Mind 

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Copyright  1920  by  The  America  Press 


E1-10-10M 


PART  I. 


MODERN  PROTESTANT 

VIEWS 

1.  Prayers  for  the  Dead 

The  story  is  told  of  a  little  Protestant  girl  who  was 
asked  to  define  Purgatory.  “It  is  the  place,”  she  inno- 
centy  said,  “to  which  Roman  Catholics  go  when  they 
die.”  Yet  there  are  many  good  Protestants  who  now 
believe  that  they  themselves  are  likely  to  enter  there,  and 
piously  hope  that  nothing  worse  may  finally  befall 
them.  Indeed  there  has  been  a  remarkable  approach  on 
the  part  of  the  Protestant  world  towards  the  Catholic 
doctrine  on  this  subject.  The  greatest  impulse  in  that 
direction,  in  the  history  of  Protestantism,  was  given  by 
the  World  War.  Not  without  cause  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Bishop  of  Michigan,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  D. 
Williams,  wrote  at  that  time : 

Thousands  of  young  lives,  in  the  very  dawn  of  their  promise, 
are  passing  daily,  suddenly,  unprepared,  to  the  unseen.  The 
world  that  looks  on  at  that  spectacle  must  renew  its  faith  in 
immortality  or  go  mad.  People  are  following  their  dead  into 
the  unknown  with  their  hearts.  Even  in  extreme  Protestant 
churches  and  families  prayers  for  the  dead  are  being  offered. 

Yet  such  prayers  are  a  complete  rejection  of  the  origi¬ 
nal  position  taken  by  the  Reformers.  According  to  their 
doctrine,  the  dead  either  had  “faith”  at  the  last  moment, 
and  so  were  saved:  or  they  had  none,  and  so  were  lost. 
Neither  good  nor  bad  works  were  to  be  taken  into  account 
in  that  view  of  God’s  judgment. 

Such  prayers,  too,  are  a  practical  rejection  of  the  new 
position  which  more  recent  Protestant  theologians 
assume.  Admitting  an  “intermediate  state,”  they  feel 
compelled  by  their  principles  to  deny  the  idea  of  any  ex¬ 
piation  to  be  made  there,  and  hence  describe  it  as  “a  realm 
of  progressive  development,”  where  the  soul  is  supposed 


4 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


to  perfect  itself  after  death,  and  lay  aside  its  imperfec¬ 
tions.  But  prayers  for  the  dead,  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  offer  them,  naturally  imply  at  least  a  confused  no¬ 
tion  of  a  true  pugatorial  state,  of  an  expiation  still 
to  be  rendered  to  the  justice  of  God  by  souls  who  are 
not  counted  among  the  eternally  lost,  and  of  a  belief  in 
His  infinite  mercy  which  permits  these  prayers  of  the 
living  to  be  applied  to  the  welfare  of  their  dear  departed. 

Many  admit,  in  word  as  well  as  in  practice,  the  full 
Catholic  doctrine  of  Heaven,  Hell  and  Purgatory.  They 
acknowledge  that  for  the  souls  of  the  just  there  may  yet 
be  need  of  a  temporary  purification  until  all  the  punish¬ 
ment  due  to  sin  has  been  completely  paid.  Neither  do 
they  hesitate  bravely  to  affirm  their  clear  conviction,  like 
the  “Poet-Preacher”  of  Scotland,  when  in  the  hour  of 
his  own  great  mourning  he  exclaimed: 

Shall  God  be  wroth  because  we  love  them  still, 

And  call  upon  His  love  to  shield  from  ill 
Our  dearest,  best; 

And  bring  them  home,  and  recompense  their  pain, 

And  cleanse  their  sin,  if  any  sin  remain , 

And  give  them  rest? 

As  regards  the  forgiveness  of  these  venial  sins  of  the 
just,  such  as  the  Protestant  poet  evidently. liad  in  mind 
here,  it  is  the  opinion  of  St.  Thomas  and  of  Suarez  that 
their  guilt  is  forgiven  at  once  after  - death.  The  soul, 
they  argue,  then  so  clearly  knows  God  to  be  its  supreme 
and  only  good,  that  it  completely  turns  away  from  all 
sin — an  act  which  suffices  to  efface  all  the  guilt  of  sin. 
But  the  penalty  to  be  paid  still  remains.  Since,  how¬ 
ever,  the  soul  can  no  longer  merit  now,  it  is  not  able 
to  lessen  its  purgatorial  punishment  and  hasten  its  re¬ 
lease  by  any  efforts  of  its  own.  Hence  the  need  of  our 
prayers  and  offerings  that  God  may  accept  them  for  its 
relief,  a  need  which  the  Church  has  always  recognized, 
and  which  the  Protestant  world  so  widely  acknowledged 
when  shell  and  bayonet  drove  home  so  many  a  vital  truth, 
in  spite  of  all  the  ruin  wrought  by  them  and  the  havoc 
done  to  body  and  soul. 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


5 


Thus  men  realized  that  the  Catholic  doctrine  concern¬ 
ing  Pugatory  was  after  all  not  “a  fond  thing,  vainly 
invented,”  as  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles  of  the  Anglican 
Church  had  declared  it  to  be.  So  staunch  a  Protestant 
divine  as  the  Rev.  J.  D.  Jones,  in  his  book,  “The  Great 
Hereafter,”  readily  admitted  that  “there  was  a  real  truth 
in  this  doctrine  which  had  been  held  by  the  Church  for 
centuries.”  That  this  truth  was,  furthermore,  never 
mingled  with  error  in  the  Church’s  teaching  we  shall 
readily  be  able  to  show. 

2.  Present-Day  Spiritism 

We  referred  to  the  new  impulse  given  to  prayers  for 
the  dead  by  the  Word  War.  Yet  its  effects,  we  must 
state  at  once,  were  clearly  twofold,  so  far  as  belief  in 
a  future  life  was  concerned. 

Some  in  the  great  distraction  of  their  grief  so  far, 
indeed,  lost  control  of  discretion  and  their  right  reason 
as  blindly  to  cast  themselves  into  the  arms  of  a  delusive 
Spiritism.  Spurning  the  Divine  admonitions,  and  wil¬ 
fully  exposing  themselves  to  deception,  they  returned  to 
the  superstitious  practices  of  pagan  nations  and  the 
supposed  intercourse  with  the  dead.  This  in  the  past  had 
simply  been  known  as  necromancy,  and  had  already 
been  severely  condemned  in  the  Old  Testament:  “Neither 
let  there  be  found  among  you  any,”  Almighty  God  had 
commanded  His  chosen  people,  “that  seeketh  the  truth 
from  the  dead.” 

They  were  repeating  the  sin  of  Saul  in  consulting  the 
witch  of  Endor,  and  what  wonder  if  many  have  been 
stricken  like  him  with  the  punishment  of  God.  Sane 
reflection  should  at  once  have  made  clear  to  them  that 
God  would  not  permit  the  souls  of  the  departed  to  be 
brought  back  from  the  realms  of  His  eternal  justice  in 
answer  to  such  unhallowed  summoning.  If,  therefore, 
beyond  all  the  notorious  trickery,  the  fraud  and  self- 
deception  of  modern  seances,  any  spirits  really  respond 
through  the  intervention  of  a  venal  medium,  it  is  clear 
that  we  may  regard  them  as  spirits  of  evil  assuming  the 
forms  of  departed  friends,  or  replying  in  their  stead 


6 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


to  the  blinded  questioner.  There  has  never  been  an  in¬ 
stance  where  the  identity  of  the  spirit  that  spoke  could 
be  proved.  Knowledge  that  had  been  possessed  by  the 
deceased  could  readily  have  also  been  attained  by  the 
spirits  that  seek  the  destruction  of  souls. 

When  the  soul  of  Samuel  really  appeared  to  Saul,  as 
many  of  the  holy  Fathers  hold,  it  was  not  in  answer  to 
the  summons  of  the  witch,  or  medium,  as  now  we  should 
call  her,  but  as  sent  by  the  offended  majesty  of  God 
for  the  punishment  of  the  rash  inquirer  and  to  predict 
the  evils  that  should  come  upon  him.  "And  forthwith 
Saul  fell  all  along  on  the  ground,  for  he  was  frightened 
with  the  words  of  Samuel/’  Seances  where  supposed 
converse  is  sought  with  the  dead,  are  rightly,  therefore, 
forbidden,  under  censure,  by  the  Church. 

3.  Catholic  Doctrine  Reasonable 

Others  there  were  to  whom  the  war  opened  up  a 
surer,  clearer  vision.  They  again  perceived  in  all  its 
beauty  the  sweet  reasonableness  of  the  Catholic  teaching 
regarding  the  Faithful  departed,  which  the  Church  had 
held  from  the  beginning.  In  common  with  their  Catholic 
brethren  they  now  realized  the  need  of  a  term  of  purga¬ 
tion,  of  spiritual  purification  wrought  by  the  justice  of 
God  in  the  souls  not  deserving  to  be  rejected  eternally, 
and  yet  not  pure  enough  to  be  admitted  instantly  to  the 
vision  of  the  All-Holy.  There  might  still,  at  least,  be 
temporal  punishment  remaining  for  forgiven  sins,  as  the 
Scripture  teaches,  and  as  we  shall  later  sufficiently  ex¬ 
plain.  Hence  there  was  clearly  to  be  a  full  expiation  now 
and  a  perfect  cleansing  of  all  stains  before  the  soul 
could  enter  the  celestial  Jerusalem  of  which  the  Bible 
tells  us :  “There  shall  not  enter  into  it  any  thing  defiled.” 
(Apoc.  xx  :27.) 

Who  can  fail  to  see,  moreover,  how  sweetly  the  pro- 
foundest  yearnings  of  our  human  hearts  are  answered 
in  this  Divine  dispensation?  What  holier  consolation 
for  husband  or  wife,  for  parent  or  child,  than  to  know 
that  their  prayers  can  span  the  gulf  between  life  and 
death,  and  reach  out  with  gentlest  aid  and  pity  to  the 
beloved  dead?  They  have  passed  indeed  beyond  the 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


7 


sphere  of  our  poor  material  ministrations,  but  we  can 
now  comfort  them  more  mightily  by  our  intercession 
at  the  throne  of  God. 

What  wonder  then  that  men  have  realized  anew  the 
truth  and  consolation  contained  in  that  Catholic  doctrine, 
so  Divinely  satisfying  to  human  mind  and  heart,  because 
the  expression  itself  of  Divine  love !  What  wonder  that 
they  should  have  disregarded  the  false  fears  injected 
into  their  souls  by  baseless  traditions,  coming  down  to 
them  from  days  of  religious  darkness,  and  have  lifted 
their  voices  in  humble  prayer  for  their  beloved  dead ! 

4.  Nature  of  Indulgences 

A  fuller  light  is  breaking.  “It  may  be  permitted  to  a 
sturdy  Protestant  to  say,”  writes  the  Rev.  J.  D.  Jones, 
“that  when  our  fathers  in  their  revolt  aginist  the  abuses 
of  Purgatory  swept  away  the  very  idea  of  a  probationary 
life,  they  went  too  far.” 

The  abuses  to  which  he  refers  are  presumably  those 
said  to  have  been  connected  with  the  granting  of  in¬ 
dulgences.  This  matter  has  been  greatly  misunderstood, 
and  such  abuses  as  at  times  occurred  on  the  part  of  in¬ 
dividuals  have  been  grossly  exaggerated  and  are  in  no 
way  connected  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  which 
has  always  remained  inviolate.  Indulgences  never,  of 
course,  implied  any  pardon  for  sins  to  be  committed, 
while  they  left  equally  untouched  the  necessity  of  con¬ 
fession,  as  of  true  sorrow  for  past  sins  and  a  sincere 
purpose  of  amendment,  together  with  the  determination 
to  right,  as  far  as  possible,  whatever  harm  was  done. 

The  value  and  efficacy  of  indulgences  consist  in  the 
fact  that  they  are  an  application  of  the  superabundant 
merits  and  satisfactions  of  Christ  and  His  Saints, 
officially  made  by  the  Church,  in  virtue  of  the  administra¬ 
tive  capacity  conferred  upon  her  by  her  Divine  Founder. 
The  entire  doctrine  harmonizes  with  that  of  the  Com¬ 
munion  of  the  Saints,  which  links  the  living  upon  earth 
with  the  Blessed  in  Heaven  and  with  the  Souls  inPurga- 
tory.  Thus  the  abundance  of  Christ  and  His  Saints  can 
be  applied  to  our  own  wants  and  that  of  the  souls  in 


8 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


suffering,  since  all  are  members  of  one  mystic  body, 
whose  Head  is  Christ.  Yet  the  application  of  these 
merits  and  satisfactions  to  remove  certain  temporal  pun¬ 
ishments  from  us  or  from  such  souls  as  are  now  in 
Purgatory,  supposes  the  performance  of  some  pious  ac¬ 
tion  prescribed  by  the  Church,  such  as  the  giving  of 
alms  or  the  recitation  of  prayers.  In  gaining  the  special 
indulgences  granted  by  the  Church  the  Faithful  more¬ 
over  prepare  themselves  by  confession  and  the  greatest 
sorrow  for  their  sins.  Hence  indulgences  can,  of  their 
nature,  only  aid  to  promote  a  profoundly  Christian  life 
in  those  who  seek  to  gain  them. 

5.  Indulgences  and  the  Reformation 

Yet  it  may  be  well  to  give  at  least  a  glance  at  the 
“abuses”  said  to  have  existed  in  the  matter  of  indulgences 
just  before  the  Reformation.  Abuses,  we  know,  may 
occur  in  regard  to  the  administration  of  even  the  holiest 
offices  and  in  the  most  sacred  things.  Some  such  abuses 
doubtlessly  did  occur  at  the  time  mentioned,  but  they 
were  greatly  exaggerated  in  the  heat  of  the  religious 
controversy,  which,  unfortunately  still  blinds  the  eyes  of 
many.  The  accusations  against  Tetzel  in  particular,  as 
Father  Hull  says,  have  been  mainly  accounted  for  either 
by  the  unscrupulous  controversial  methods  of  the  first 
Reformers,  who  were  quite  ready  to  take  up  scandalous 
stories  that  had  been  freely  invented,  or  else  by  the 
unfair  interpretation  laid  upon  rhetorical  statements  such 
as  might  be  made  by  over-zealous  preachers.  Careful 
historians  find  no  difficulty  in  this  matter. 

The  meaning  of  indulgences  was  quite  as  clear  in  theology 
then  as  it  is  now.  The  official  program  for  the  preaching  of 
indulgence  reflected  this  theology  quite  accurately.  The  Faithful 
were  strictly  required  to  make  a  contrite  confession  of  all  their 
past  sins,  and  obtain  valid  absolution  for  them,  and  thus  to  be 
in  a  state  of  forgiveness,  before  the  indulgence  could  be  of  any 
value  to  them.  All  this  is  clearly  proved  from  contemporary  - 
documents,  and  may  be  considered  a  settled  fact  in  history. 
If  ignorant  people,  in  spite  of  the  prescribed  instructions,  did 
draw  from  indulgences  any  bad  effect,  this  could  only  take  the 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


9 


form  of  diminishing  in  their  minds  the  fear  of  Purgatory,  seeing 
that  its  punishments  could  be  avoided  by  the  use  of  indulgences. 
It  never  could  take  the  form  of  believing  that  indulgences  gave 
a  license  to  sin — an  idea  which  is  altogether  foreign  to  the 
whole  Catholic  teaching  on  the  subject. 

If  diminishing  the  fear  of  Purgatory  is  the  only  possi¬ 
ble  harm  that  even  the  most  ignorant  can  possibly  draw 
from  indulgences,  as  in  fact  is  the  case,  then  Protestant¬ 
ism  has  sinned  most  signally  in  completely  abolishing  the 
fear  of  Purgatory  in  whose  existence  all  the  ages  ot 
Christianity  had  believed,  as  the  Church  believes  in  it 
today  and  Protestants  themselves  have  fast  begun  to  be¬ 
lieve  anew.  The  question  of  alms-giving,  perplexingly 
connected  in  the  Protestant  mind  with  the  indulgences 
granted  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  is  thus  luminously 
explained  by  the  same  writer: 

Protestants  must  recognize  that  alms-giving,  not  only  to  the 
poor  but  also  to  pious  objects,  is  a  virtuous  act  pleasing  to  God. 
Now  the  building  of  St.  Peter’s  was  in  those  days  considered 
to  be  a  very  pious  act  for  the  glory  of  religion ;  and  it  was  for 
this  purpose  that  the  Popes  bethought  themselves  of  a  universal 
collection  from  the  Faithful.  Knowing  that  the  self-sacrifice  and 
charity  and  piety  of  contributing  to  such  a  devout  work  was 
pleasing  to  God,  and  productive  of  favors  and  rewafds  from 
God,  they  embodied  the  idea  of  spiritual  reward  in  the  form  of 
a  remission  of  the  purgatorial  punishment  “to  all  who  having 
confessed  their  sins  contritely  and  received  absolution  followed 
by  Holy  Communion,”  would  make  a  certain  contribution. 

This  remission  of  purgatorial  punishment  did  not,  of 
course,  extend  to  any  punishment  that  would  be  due  to 
future  sins,  as  some  Protestants  still  seem  to  imagine,  and 
least  of  all  was  it  a  “condonation  of  sin”  obtainable  by 
money.  Such  condonation  was  obtainable  only,  then  as 
now.  “by  confession  with  contrition  and  purpose  of 
amendment,  followed  by  absolution  from  the  sins  thus 
confessed  and  repented  of.” 

6.  Protestant  Theologians 

Perhaps  the  use  of  the  word  “probationary,”  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Tones,  in  connection  with  the  mention  of  Purga- 


10 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


tory  has  been  noticed  by  the  reader  in  the  quotation 
made  at  the  very  beginning  of  our  short  treatment  of 
the  question  of  indulgences.  This  use  is  character¬ 
istically  Protestant,  yet  very  inaccurate,  since  our  time 
of  trial  is  strictly  limited  to  the  present  life.  It  is  doubt¬ 
less  meant  to  avoid  the  doctrine  of  a  real  expiation  that 
is  still  exacted  by  Divine  Justice,  a  doctrine  such  as, 
we  shall  see,  the  Church  has  insisted  upon  from  the 
beginning.  For  with  the  moment  of  death  has  come 
“the  night  in  which  no  man  can  labor.”  Yet  we  realize 
how  completely  the  old  Protestant  position  has  been  re¬ 
linquished  when  even  this  recognized  Protestant  writer 
could  say  without  any  fear  of  challenge:  “And  now  that 
the  fierceness  of  controversy  has  died  down,  Protestant 
theologians  are  returning  to  a  belief  in  a  probationary 
life  after  this  one.” 

Indeed  it  is  now  common  among  modern  Protestant 
theologians  to  admit  the  existence  of  what  has  already 
been  referred  to  here  as  an  “intermediate  state”;  but  in 
defining  its  nature  they  differ  widely  from  one  another. 
Each  theologian  may  in  fact  be  said  to  offer  his  own 
distinct  view  of  it.  “Watson’s  ‘Theology’  among  the 
Methodists,  describes  one  kind  of  ‘middle  world’ ;  Hodge’s 
‘System  of  Theology,’  among  the  Presbyterians,  has  an¬ 
other.”  Says  a  writer  in  the  Missionary.  “Pendleton, 
who  teaches  Southern  Baptists,  gives  still  another ;  while 
Robinson  and  Strong,  who  inculcate  doctrine  to  Northern 
Baptists,  express  a  still  different  view.  The  Seventh 
Day  Adventists  believe  that  the  dead  repose  in  a  sound 
slumber  until  the  day  of  judgment;  then  we  have  the 
Unitarian,  the  Mormon,  the  Christian  Science  view,  and 
many  others.”  Such  confusion  is  characteristic  of  Prot¬ 
estant  Christianity,  and  shows  that  it  cannot  hold  the 
key  to  the  problems  of  life.  Truth  is  one,  and  one  only. 

7.  Return  to  Catholic  Doctrine 

Yet  the  impulse  by  which  Protestants  pray  for  their 
dead  is  based  upon  none  of  these  doctrines;  but  it  is 
logically  derived  from  a  concept  approaching  far  more 
closely  to  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  Purgatory  and  often 
is  almost  perfectly  identified  with  it.  Among  non- 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


11 


Catholic  authors  few,  if  any,  have  better  stated  the 
transition  toward  the  Catholic  point  of  view  now  taking 
place  in  the  Protestant  heart,  and  more  slowly  in  the 
Protestant  mind,  than  W.  Mallock.  In  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  his  book,  “Is  Life  Worth  Living?”  the  fol¬ 
lowing  striking  passage  occurs: 

As  to  this  doctrine  of  Purgatory — which  has  so  long  been  a 
stumbling  block  to  the  whole  Protestant  world — time  goes  on, 
and  the  view  men  take  of  it  is  changing.  It  is  becoming  fast 
recognized  on  all  sides  that  it  is  the  only  doctrine  that  can 
bring  a  belief  in  future  rewards  and  punishments  into  anything 
like  accordance  with  our  notions  of  what  is  just  a!nd  reasonable. 
So  far  from  its  being  a  superfluous  superstition,  it  is  seen  to  be 
just  what  is  demanded  at  once  by  reason  and  morality,  and  a 
belief  in  it  to  be  not  only  an  intellectual  assent,  but  a  partial 
harmonizing  of  the  whole  moral  ideal. 

Thus  in  legislating  against  the  doctrine  of  Purgatory, 
and  therefore  against  prayers  for  the  dead,  as  “a  fond 
thing,  vainly  invented,  and  grounded  upon  no  warranty 
of  Scripture,”  the  Reformers  were  not  merely  far  from 
the  truth;  and  equally  far  from  what  Mallock  rightly 
says  is  just  and  reasonable,  and  demanded  for  “a  partial 
harmonizing  of  the  whole  moral  ideal;”  but  they  made 
themselves  responsible  for  what  another  non-Catholic 
writer  describes  as  one  of  the  greatest  cruelties  inflicted 
on  mankind.  Indeed  it  is  important  to  seek  to  under¬ 
stand  in  its  fulness  all  that  is  implied  in  this  accusation. 
The  reason  on  whieh  it  is  based  was  thus  eloquently 
stated  by  an  editorial  writer  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
organ,  the  Living  Church : 

When  Protestantism  shut  down  on  praying  for  the  dead,  it 
was  guilty  of  a  cruelty  to  bereaved  mourners  that  is  simply 
monstrous.  And  we  see  the  result  of  centuries  of  that  teaching 
in  the  blank  despair  that  so  often  characterizes  the  Protestant 
funeral.  To  lay  the  widow  on  the  funeral  pyre  of  that  husband 
who  has  been  all  the  world  to  her  for  a  long  term  of  years,  is 
hardly  more  cruel  than  to  tell  her  that  now,  when  he  is  torn 
from  her  immediate,  visible  presence,  she  must  cease  those 
prayers  that  day  by  day  she  has  offered  for  him  during  all  those 
years;  that  she  may  some  day  join  him  in  an  unknown  life 


12 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


above,  but  that  in  the  meantime  she  can  have  no  relationship1 
with  him,  must  not  even  pray  for  him.  What  wonder  that  spirit¬ 
ualism  made  good  inroads  among  people  who  were  taught  that 
doctrine  of  despair? 

We  shall  be  pardoned  for  quoting  here,  in  contrast 
with  this  picture,  those  well-known  lines  of  Tennyson 
which  repetition  can  never  stale.  They  are  written  out 
of  the  very  heart  of  Catholicism  in  its  loving  considera¬ 
tion  for  both  the  living  and  the  dead: 

I  have  lived  my  life,  and  that  which  I  have  done 
May  He  within  Himself  make  pure ;  but  thou, 

If  thou  shouldst  never  see  my  face  again, 

Pray  for  my  soul.  More  things  are  wrought  by  prayer 
Than  this  world  dreams  of.  Wherefore,  let  thy  voice 
Rise  like  a  fountain  for  me  night  and  day. 

For  what  are  men  better  than  sheep  or  goats 
That  nourish  a  blind  life  within  the  brain, 

If,  knowing  God,  they  lift  not  hands  of  prayer 
Both  for  themselves  and  those  who  call  them  friend? 

For  so  the  whole  round  world  is  every  way 
Bound  by  gold  chains  about  the  feet  of  God- 


PART  II. 


THE  PROOFS  FOR  PURGATORY 


1.  The  Catholic  Doctrine 

The  Catholic  doctrine  of  Purgatory  has  already  been 
stated  in  the  preceding  chapter.  It  contains  two  truths 
so  obvious  that  one  wonders  they  should  ever  have  been 
called  into  question.  The  first  is  that  souls  departing 
this  life  without  any  grievous  sins,  such  as  would  exclude 
them  forever  from  the  Vision  of  God,  may  yet  have  lesser 
stains  "upon  them,  or  may  still  have  to  undergo  punish¬ 
ment  due  to  sins  already  forgiven  them  on  earth.  The 
second  truth  is  equally  plain,  that  since  these  stains  were 
not  cleansed  away  in  this  earthly  life,  they  must  be 
purged  away  in  the  next.  The  mere  intervention  of 
death  cannot  undo  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  these 
unatoned  transgressions,  nor  can  it  dispense  with  the 
exercise  of  the  Divine  justice  which  demands  full  pun¬ 
ishment  for  them.  If  not  rendered  in  this  life,  it  must 
certainly  be  paid  in  the  next. 

That  sins  may  be  pardoned  by  Almighty  God,  and 
nevertheless  a  temporal  punishment  remain  to  be  paid 
for  them  is  plain  from  many  passages  of  Holy  Scripture. 
Even  when  Adam's  personal  sin  had  been  forgiven  the 
temporal  punishment  still  remained  to  be  paid.  He  was 
to  eat  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow  until  he  should 
finally  return  into  the  dust  from  which  he  came.  The 
passing  want  of  implicit  trust  in  the  word  of  God  was 
forgiven  Moses,  but  he  was  still  to  suffer  the  ultimate 
penalty,  which  consisted  in  his  exclusion  from  the  land 
of  promise.  Perhaps  the  most  striking  instance  is  that 
of  David  pleading  for  the  life  of  his  child,  whose  death 
was  Divinely  decreed,  and  the  decree  Divinely  executed 
by  the  sole  Sovereign  over  life  and  death.  Yet  the  sin 
of  the  King  had  been  forgiven  him,  which  had  made  men 
blaspheme  the  name  of  God.  In  all  these  cases  the  tern- 


14 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


poral  puninshment  remained  after  the  soul  had  been 
cleansed  of  its  guilt. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  whole  punishment  is  not 
always  remitted  with  the  guilt  of  sin.  If  death  intervenes 
before  this  punishment  is  paid  on  earth,  there  must  be 
a  place  or  state  where  it  can  be  paid  hereafter  in  the 
case  of  those  souls  that  die  with  no  grievous,  or  “mortal” 
guilt  upon  them.  That  place  or  state  the  Church  calls 
Purgatory. 

So  again  there  may  be  lesser  sins,  which  the  Church 
calls  “venial.”  These,  as  we  have  said,  may  remain  both 
unrepented  and  unforgiven.  Yet  how  can  the  soul  with 
the  defilement  of  such  stains  upon  it,  and  the  punishment 
for  them  still  due,  be  admitted  into  the  sight  of  Him 
whose  eyes,  the  prophet  says,  “are  too  pure  to  behold 
evil”?  (Hab.,  i:  13.)  So  here,  too,  we  must  acknowledge 
the  need  of  a  place  or  state  in  which  these  transgressions 
can  be  fully  expiated.  This,  again,  is  Purgatory. 

2.  To  the  Last  Farthing 

Purgatory,  therefore,  as  Mallock  rightly  concluded  is 
a  truth  we  must  absolutely  accept  if  we  would  bring  our 
belief  in  future  rewards  and  punishments  “into  anything 
like  accordance  with  our  notions  of  what  is  just  and 
reasonable.”  The  soul  with  venial  sins  upon  it,  or  satis¬ 
faction  still  due  for  perhaps  forgiven  mortal  sins,  has 
incurred  a  debt  which  must  be  paid  even  to  the  last 
farthing  in  another  world.  Death,  in  fact,  may  overtake 
it  in  the  very  moment  when  it  is  steeped  in  such  in¬ 
debtedness.  The  full  payment  of  this  is  surely  no  slight 
matter  if  we  remember  that  the  account  stand  against 
Infinite  Justice.  God’s  mercy,  it  is  true,  may  still  in¬ 
tervene  in  so  far  as  our  prayers,  alms-deeds,  penances 
and  Masses  may  be  accepted  for  such  a  soul  in  lieu  of 
partial  or  entire  payment  of  these  debts,  or  we  may  be 
able  to  draw  by  indulgences  upon  the  spiritual  treasures 
of  the  Church,  i.  e.,  the  superabundant  merits  and  satis¬ 
factions  of  Christ  and  of  His  Saints  administered  by  her. 
To  quote  once  more  a  non-Catholic  authority.  In  the 
Christian  Commonwealth,  September,  1916,  Stanley  Rus- 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


15 


sell  thus  stated  his  reason  for  believing  in  the  existence  of 
Purgatory : 

Jesus  referred  to  a  prison  from  which  there  should  be  no  exit 
until  the  “uttermost  farthing”  had  been  paid,  but  that  very 
sentence  postulates  a  release  when  the  uttermost  farthing  has 
been  paid. 

“But,”  says  someone  again,  “this  is  the  Roman  Catholic 
doctrine  of  Purgatory.”  Oh,  those  labels!  What  care  I  whether  it 
be  Roman  Catholic,  Methodist  or  Unitarian,  if  only  it  helps  me  to 
live  and  gives  me  strength  to  die,  and  finds  corroboration  in  my 
touch  upon  God,  and  my  experience  of  life?  What  does  it 
matter  whence  it  comes?  I  got  it  from  the  stage  of  His 
Majesty’s  Theatre,  and  turned  to  my  New  Testament  and  my 
heart,  and  both  assured  me  that  it  was  true.  No  other  con¬ 
sideration  interests  me. 

This  argument  appealed  no  less  strongly  to  the  early 
Christians  than  to  this  scion  of  our  own  modern  age. 
The  fact  is  that  even  the  most  highly  civilized  pagan 
nations,  Greeks,  Romans  and  Indian  savants  clearly 
distinguished  between  temporal  and  eternal  punishments. 
So  the  infinite  justice  and  holiness  of  God  are  brought 
nto  accord  with  His  infinite  wisdom  and  love. 

3.  Proofs  from  Old  Testament 

For  further  proof  of  the  doctrine  of  Purgatory  it 
will  be  well  indeed  to  turn  to  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  both 
the  Old  and  the  New  Testament.  From  the  former 
various  passages  'are  quoted  by  the  Fathers,  e.  g.,  by 
Origen  and  Ambrose;  as  indicating  the  belief  in  Purga¬ 
tory.  But  we  naturally  turn  to  the  classic  passage  from 
the  Second  Book  of  Machabees.  The  inspiration  of  the 
Books  of  Machabees,  defined  by  the  Church,  and  always 
maintained  from  the  beginning,  need  not  be  proved  here. 
Prescinding  from  this  entirely,  the  purely  historic  value 
of  these  books  suffices  to  show  that  the  practice  of  the 
Jews,  both  priests  and  people,  was  one  with  that  of  the 
Church  today  in  praying  for  the  dead.  Describing  the 
deeds  of  the  valiant  Judas  Machabeus  the  sacred  writer 
adds : 

And  making  a  gathering  he  sent  twelve  thousand  drachmas  of 


16 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


silver  to  Jerusalem  for  sacrifice  to  be  offered  for  the  sins  of  the 
dead,  thinking  well  and  religiously  concerning  the  resurection. 

(For  if  he  had  not  hoped  that  they  that  were  slain  should  rise 
again,  it  would  have  seemed  superfluous  and  vain  to  pray  for  the 
dead,) 

And  because  he  considered  that  they  who  had  fallen  asleep 
with  godliness  had  great  grace  laid  up  for  them. 

It  is  therefore  a  holy  and  wholesome  thought  to  pray  for  the 
dead,  that  they  may  be  loosed  from  sins.  (II  Mach.  xxii:43-46.) 

From  other  sources,  too,  it  can  be  shown  that  such 
was  the  belief  of  the  Jews  concerning  the  dead  ( e .  g., 
Buxdorf,  “Synagoga  Judaica,”  c.  48).  It  is  plain,  there¬ 
fore,  that  it  was  the  faith  of  Judas  Machabeus  and  of 
the  Jews  at  large,  approved  by  the  sacred  writer,  that 
there  could  be  punishment  for  sin  in  the  next  life  from 
which  relief  and  even  release  could  be  afforded  by  sacri¬ 
fice  and  prayer.  Such  is  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  Purga¬ 
tory.  The  canonicity  of  the  Books  of  Machabees,  always 
accepted  in  the  Church,  was  denied  by  Protestantism 
merely  to  escape  this  text.  Yet  the  historic  facts  re¬ 
main  untouched  by  this  denial. 

4.  Proof  from  New  Testament 

Various  passages  can  be  cited  from  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment  which  should  convince  even  the  most  skeptical : 
“Whosoever  shall  speak  a  word  against  the  Son  of  man, 
it  shall  be  forgiven  him  /’said  Our  Divine  Lord,  “but  he 
that  shall  speak  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be 
forgiven  him,  neither  in  this  world  nor  in  the  world  to 
come”  Hence  it  follows  that  there  must  be  sins  which 
are  forgiven  in  the  next  world.  But  they  are  not  forgiven 
in  Heaven,  where  nothing  defiled  can  enter,  as  the  Sacred 
Scripture  tells  us.  Neither  are  they  forgiven  in  Hell 
since  Our  Lord  assures  us  that  from  this  there  is  no 
redemption.  Hence  there  must  be  a  third  state,  which 
we  call  Purgatory.  Here  alone  they  can  still  be  cleansed 
away.  Such,  moreover,  was  the  interpretation  given  to 
this  text  by  that  great  light  of  the  Church,  St.  Augustine, 
by  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  St.  Bernard,  St.  Bede  and 
others  whose  names  need  not  be  enumerated  here.  Equally 


THE  SOULS 'IN  PURGATORY 


17 


familiar  is  the  passage  from  St.  Paul: 

For  other  foundation  no  man  can  lay,  but  that  which  is  laid; 
which  is  Christ  Jesus. 

Now  if  any  man  build  upon  this  foundation,  gold,  silver, 
precious  stones,  wood,  hay,  stubble : 

Every  man’s  work  shall  be  manifest;  for  the  day  of  the  Lord 
shall  declare  it,  because  it  shall  be  revealed  in  fire;  and  the 
fire  shall  try  every  man’s  work,  of  what  sort  it  is. 

If  any  man’s  work  abide  which  he  hath  built  thereupon,  he 
shall  receive  a  reward. 

If  any  man’s  work  burn,  he  shall  suffer  loss;  but  he  himself 
shall  be  saved,  yet  so  as  by  fire.  (I  Cor.  iii:ll-15.) 

The  Apostle  here  insists  that  a  solid  edifice  should  be 
built  by  the  preachers  of  the  Gospel  upon  a  good  founda¬ 
tion,  that  is  upon  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  Vain  and  use¬ 
less  doctrines — wood,  hay  and  stuble — are  not  to  be 
mixed  with  this.  In  the  test  of  fire  the  true  foundation 
will  remain,  but  whatever  has  through  venial  faults  been 
mingled  with  it — such  vanities  as  are  described  above 
and  which  are  not  mortal  sins— will  be  burned  away. 
The  purification  will  be  “so  as  by  fire/’  and  it  will 
take  place  in  connection  with  “the  day  of  the  Lord,” 
the  day  of  judgment.  In  various  parts  of  this  epistle, 
St.  Paul  refers  to  this  day,  and  in  fact  does  so  imme¬ 
diately  before  and  after  the  passage  quoted  above  (vv.  8 
and  17.).  Hence  the  explanation  that  there  is  reference 
here  to  the  present  world  cannot  hold.  The  conclusion 
that  suffices  for  us  is  that  St.  Paul  clearly  teaches  that 
a  soul  may  be  saved,  and  yet  suffer  punishment  after 
death.  This  is  the  plain  Catholic  doctrine  of  Purgatory. 

The  “fire”  in  the  present  instance,  by  which  the  puri¬ 
fication  is  to  take  place,  is  by  many  taken  only  figura¬ 
tively,  since  the  entire  passage  is  metaphorical.  The 
point  is  that  the  soul  which  has  been  guilty  of  human 
vanities  in  setting  forth  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  will  suffer 
loss ,  will  endure  punishment  in  the  fire,  and  yet  be 
finally  saved,  because  it  was  not  guilty  of  mortal  trans¬ 
gressions.  Its  punishment  must  be  referred  to  the  par¬ 
ticular  judgment,  since  the  Last  Judgment  will  but  con¬ 
firm  before  all  the  world  that  first,  particular  pudgment 


18 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 

0 


which  is  passed  in  the  instant  of  death.  On  this  first 
individual  pudgment  the  earliest  Christian  traditions  are 
perfectly  clear. 

5.  Earliest  Christian  Writings 

If,  however,  this  passage  is  difficult  for  the  reader 
it  suffices  to  know  that  great  minds  like  St.  Ambrose,  St. 
Augustine,  St.  Jerome  and  St.  Gregory  saw  in  it  a  con¬ 
vincing  proof  of  the  existence  of  Purgatory,  of  a  state 
where  the  dross  of  lesser  sins — the  hay  and  stubble  of 
life — is  burned  away,  and  the  soul  is  at  last  purified  to 
enter  into  the  presence  of  God. 

That  the  doctrine  of  Purgatory  was  taught  and  under¬ 
stood  in  the  Church  from  the  earliest  days  is  of  course 
perfectly  clear  from  the  many  references  to  it  that  have 
come  down  to  us  from  the  earliest  centuries.  Thus 
going  back  to  the  very  cradle  of  our  Faith,  we  find 
Tertullian,  in  his  treatise  De  Monogamia,  exhorting  a 
widow  “to  pray  for  the  soul  of  her  husband/’  and  “to 
make  oblations  for  him  on  the  anniversary  of  his  demise,” 
precisely  as  Catholics  do  today.  St.  Cyprian  ( Epis .  52  ad 
Antonin.)  and  St.  Jerome  (In  c.  v.  Math.)  both  quote 
in  proof  of  the  existence  of  Purgatory  the  same  passage 
from  St.  Matthew  (v:26)  which  we  have  seen  was  so 
convincing  to  Stanley  Russel :  “This  is  that  which  He 
saith,”  writes  St.  Jerome,  “Thou  shalt  not  go  out  of 
prison  till  thou  shalt  pay  even  thy  little  sins.” 

St.  Augustine,  writing  his  “City  of  God,”  was  impressed 
strongly,  as  all  must  be,  by  that  other  passage  from  St. 
Matthew  (xxii:  32)  referring  to  those  who  shall  be  for¬ 
given  neither  in  this  world,  nor  in  the  world  to  come: 
“Neither  could  it  be  truly  said  of  some,”  he  argues,  “that 
they  are  neither  forgiven  in  this  life,  nor  in  the  life  to 
come,  unless  there  were  some,  who  though  they  are  not 
forgiven  in  this  life,  yet  should  be  in  the  life  to  come.” 

St.  Cyprian  makes  allusion  to  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass 
offered  for  the  souls  of  the  dead,  precisely  as  any  Bishop 
or  priest  might  do  today  and  calls  attention  to  a  re¬ 
fusal  of  the  holy  Mass  to  the  souls  of  those  who  violate 
the  law  forbidding  them  to  appoint  a  churchman  as  their 
executor.  The  preciousness  of  this  holy  Sacrifice,  as 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


19 


offered  for  the  dead,  is  equally  insisted  upon  by  St. 
Chrysostom,  who  invokes  Apostolic  authority  for  this 
practice : 

Not  without  reason  was  it  ordained  by  the  Apostles ,  that  in 
celebrating  the  Sacred  Mysteries  the  dead  should  be  remembered ; 
for  they  well  knew  what  advantage  would  thence  be  derived. 
{Horn.  3  in  Ep.  ad  Philip.) 

We  might  continue  to  quote  almost  indefinitely  from 
the  Fathers  and  Doctors  of  the  Church  and  from  the 
earliest  Christian  writers,  to  show  how  perfectly  the  first 
centuries  of  Catholicity  were  linked  with  our  own  present 
times  in  one  clear  understanding  and  one  practical  appli¬ 
cation  of  the  doctrine  of  Purgatory.  In  the  fourth 
century  we  hear  a  Council  of  the  Church  speaking  of 
suffrages  for  the  dead  as  we  might  speak  today,  and  as 
Tertullian  had  spoken  even  centuries  before.  ( Carth . 
II,  can.  29.) 

6.  “Holy  Common  Sense." 

Further,  all  the  ancient  liturgies,  even  some  in  use 
among  the  early  oriental  sectaries,  such  as  the  Nestorians, 
contain  prayers  for  the  dead.  The  very  oldest,  that  go 
back  unquestionably  to  the  Apostles  themselves,  contain 
without  any  exception  prayers  and  remembrances  for  the 
departed.  In  the  liturgy  of  St.  Tames  we  read:  “May 
this  oblation  which  the  living  offer  for  the  dead,  expiate 
the  soul’s  iniquity,  and  may  its  trangressions  be  remitted." 
(“ Kirchenlexicon  ”  article  “ Fegfeuer .") 

There  is  consequently  no  confusion  or  doubt  in  this 
teaching.  The  passages  quoted  to  prove  an  apparent  con¬ 
tradiction  deal  merely  with  the  uncertainties  regarding 
the  precise  nature  of  the  punishments  of  Purgatory, 
their  place  and  duration.  On  these  subjects  no  authorita¬ 
tive  doctrine  has  been  handed  down  to  us  that  is  of 
faith.  But  of  one  thing  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  that 
is  that  the  first  Christians  distinguished  as  clearly  as  we 
between  Heaven,  Hell  and  Purgatory.  As  a  final  ex¬ 
ample  it  will  suffice  to  quote  here  from  one  of  the  very 
earliest  writers  of  the  Church.  In  reference  to  the  Paul¬ 
ine  text  which  we  have  already  discussed  at  considerable 
length,  Origen  says : 


20 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


For  if  on  the  foundation  of  Christ  you  have  built  not  only 
gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones,  but  also  wood  and  hay  and 
stubble,  what  do  you  expect  when  the  soul  shall  be  separated 
from  the  body?  Would  you  enter  into  Heaven  with  your  wood 
and  hay  and  stubble  and  thus  defile  the  Kingdom  of  God ;  or  on< 
account  of  these  hindrances  would  you  remain  without  and  re¬ 
ceive  no  reward  for  your  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones? 
Neither  is  this  just.  It  remains  then  that  you  be  committed  to’ 
the  fire  which  will  burn  the  light  materials ;  for  our  God  to  those- 
who  can  comprehend  heavenly  things  is  called  a  cleansing  fire. 
But  this  fire  consumes  not  the  creature,  but  what  the  creature 
has  himself  built,  wood  and  hay  and  stubble.  It  is  manifest  that 
the  fire  destroys  the  wood  of  our  transgressions,  and  then  re¬ 
turns  to  us  the  reward  of  our  good  works.  (P.  G.,  XIII,  col. 
445,  488,  quoted  in  “The  Catholic  Encyclopedia.”) 

There  could  be  no  clearer  statement  of  the  doctrine  of 
Purgatory  and  the  reason  for  it  than  is  given  in  these 
lines,  written  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  Christian. 
Church.  Here  is  the  echo  of  them  in  our  own  day  from1 
the  lips  of  a  speaker  who  though  himself  without  the 
Fold,  could  not  but  recognize  the  impregnable  strength 
of  the  Catholic  position,  the  Rev  H.  Page  Dyer,  whose, 
words  merely  repeat  the  argument  of  Origen : 

The  ancient  belief  of  God’s  Church  is  one  of  holy  common' 
sense.  Few  souls  are  so  pure  that  they  are  fit  for  Heaven,  where 
nothing  that  is  defiled  may  enter.  And  yet  there  are  many 
millions  of  people  who  are  too  good  to  go  to  Hell.  This  vast 
body  of  immortal  beings  will  at  death  go  neither  to  Heaven  nor 
to  Hell,  but  to  an  intermediate  state,  a  sort  of  vestibule  to 
heaven,  an  ante-chamber,  where  their  stains  will  be  removed, 
and  where  a  Divine  process  of  purgation  is  mercifully  provided 
by  Almighty  God. 

These  then  are  the  reasons  why  Catholics  believe  in  the- 
Doctrine  of  Purgatory,  which  all  must  accept  who  wouidl 
not  deny  the  Qiurch  and  the  Scriptures;  who  would  not 
gainsay  the  long  traditions  of  the  ancient  Synagogue  and* 
of  all  the  Christian  centuries ;  who  would  not,  in  fine,  re¬ 
ject  the  clear  demands  of  morality,  of  “holy  commoni 
sense,”  and  of  Divine  Justice. 


FART  III. 


WHY  AID  THE  POOR  SOULS? 


1.  Duration  of  Purgatory 

In  the  earliest  monuments  of  the  Church,  the  cata¬ 
combs,  we  clearly  find  recorded  the  belief  in  a  particular 
judgment.  This,  as  we  hold  in  common  with  all  the 
ages  of  the  Faith,  precedes  the  last  general  judgment,  in 
which  God’s  dealings  with  the  individual  souls  are  justi¬ 
fied  before  all  the  world.  Constant  reference  is  made 
in  the  inscriptions  of  the  catacombs  to  intercession  for 
the  dead,  and  the  passer-by  is  asked  to  pray  for  them. 
Such  prayers  can  be  founded  only  on  the  belief  in  a 
particular  judgment,  according  to  which  the  souls  of 
the  just  are  even  now  undergoing  their  purgation  of 
whatever  stains  must  still  be  cleansed  away.  But  with 
the  last  judgment,  Purgatory  itself  will  cease  to  be. 
There  is  thenceforth  to  be  only  Heaven  and  Hell,  since 
all  temporal  punishments  will  then  have  been  paid.  On 
this,  too,  the  Scripture  is  clear.  The  same  thought  is 
plainly  expressed  by  St.  Augustine  in  the  twenty-first 
chapter  of  his  “City  of  God”: 

But  temporary  punishments  are  suffered  by  some  in  this  life 
only,  by  others  after  death,  by  others  both  now  and  then ;  but  all 
of  these  temporal  punishments  are  to  be  exacted  before  the 
last  and  strictest  judgment. 

W  hile  Purgatory  itself  is  limited  by  the  last  judgment, 
we  cannot  speak  with  equal  certainty  of  the  length  of 
time  during  which  individuals  souls  may  have  to  under¬ 
go  their  purification,  that  they  be  rendered  fit  to  enter  into 
the  sight  of  the  All-Holy  God.  The  duration  of  Purga¬ 
tory  may  extend  for  some  over  many  years.  Of  this  we 
are  practically  certain,  since  it  is  the  custom  of  the 
Church  herself  to  offer  up  anniversary  Masses  for  in¬ 
dividual  souls  during  hundreds  of  years.  Yet,  foreseeing 
these,  God  might  free  the  soul  at  once.  Let  us  then  help 


22 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


on  our  part  that  the  day  of  their  release  may  be  hastened 
by  us:  “It  is  a  holy  and  wholesome  thought  to  pray  for 
the  dead,  that  they  may  be  loosened  from  their  sins. 

2.  The  Pain  of  Loss 

But  properly  to  understand  the  reason  for  coming  to 
the  aid  of  the  dear  departed  who  have  died  in  the  grace 
of  God,  we  must  understand  also  the  nature  of  their 
sufferings.  These  will  better  make  clear  to  us,  moreover, 
how  great  a  work  of  charity  it  is  to  exert  ourselves  for 
their  release,  and  how  dear  such  efforts  are  to  Almighty 
God,  who  loves  these  souls  with  an  inexpressible  love 
and  desires  most  earnestly  that  their  time  of  agony  may 
be  shortened  and  they  may  flv  to  His  embrace.  So  we 
shall  best  be  moved  to  emulate  the  zeal  of  the  early 
Christians  in  praying  for  their  dead  and  offering  up 
for  them  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass. 

The  punishment  of  Purgatory  is  twofold :  the  pain  of 
sense  and  the  pain  of  loss.  The  latter,  to  be  first  con¬ 
sidered  here,  consists  in  the  fact  that  the  soul  is  held 
back,  through  its  own  fault,  from  the  Vision  of  God. 
The  more  eagerly  an  object  is  desired,  St.  Thomas  argues, 
the  more  keenly  is  its  absence  felt.  Now  the  eagerness 
with  which  the  holy  souls  desire  to  be  forthwith  united 
to  God,  the  highest  possible  good,  is  most  intense,  be¬ 
cause  it  is  not  retarded  by  the  weight  of  the  mortal 
body,  and  also  because  the  time  for  the  Vision  of  God 
would  now  be  at  hand,  were  the  souls  not  delayed  by 
the  hindrance  it  has  placed  in  its  sins.  We  cannot  pos¬ 
sibly  measure  the  distress  which  this  delay  now  inflicts 
upon  it.  In  life  a  soul  may  have  minded  little  the  fact 
that  by  a  venial  sin  it  was  offending  the  infinite  Love  of 
God.  But  now  that  death  has  come  the  soul  can  com¬ 
prehend  the  greatness  of  its  folly.  All  earthly  things, 
which  once  distracted  it  and  withdrew  it  from  the  service 
and  love  of  God  above  all  things,  have  disappeared.  It 
has  God  alone  to  rest  in.  It  longs  for  God  with  an  in¬ 
expressible  desire,  and  yet  is  constantly  held  back  by 
its  own  previous  wilfulness.  Its  prison  door  is  locked, 
and  it  waits  with  unutterable  yearning  for  the  moment 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


23 


when  it  may  look  upon  His  Face  in  ecstasy,  when  its 
stains  shall  have  been  cleansed  away  and  it  will  leap  to 
the  embrace  of  Him  who  from  all  eternity  has  loved  it 
with  a  love  beyond  compare. 

3.  The  Imprisoned  Bride 

To  make  plain,  however  faintly,  the  desire  to  possess 
God,  which  now  consumes  the  soul,  we  can  find  perhaps 
no  better  comparison  than  that  of  the  bride  who  longs 
with  passionate  eagerness  for  her  spouse,  the  best  be¬ 
loved.  It  is,  after  all,  the  comparison  that  Almighty 
God  Himself  makes  in  speaking  of  His  relation  to  the 
souls  of  men. 

So  let  us  consider  this  bride  in  our  similitude.  It 
is  the  morning  of  her  proposed  marriage.  The  time  has 
come  when  she  is  to  go  forth  into  the  arms  of  her  be¬ 
loved.  Instead  she  finds  herself  detained.  She  is  cast 
into  a  distant  prison.  Her  own  folly  has  suddenly 
brought  upon  her  the  just  sanction  of  the  law,  and  she 
is  left  in  loneliness  to  eat  away  her  heart  with  unavail¬ 
ing  grief.  One  consolation  still  remains  to  her,  and  that 
is  that  her  beloved  will  remain  constant  to  her.  Yet 
what  pain  this  separation  causes  her,  which  grows  more 
terrible  as  it  drags  on  slowly,  month  by  month — perhaps, 
it  may  be,  for  years! 

But  this  is  not  all  the  story.  Glancing  into  her  mirror 
she  discovers  with  inexpressible  horror  the  effects  of  a 
disease,  not  moral  indeed,  but  dreadfully  disfiguring  all 
her  comeliness.  It  had  before  appeared  so  insignificant 
that  she  gave  it  no  thought.  The  venom  was  even  then 
within  her  system ;  it  has  now  merely  broken  out  and 
become  visible  in  its  effects.  Can  anyone  imagine  her 
distress.  To  the  longing  for  her  beloved  is  added  the 
pain  which  the  knowledge  of  this  loathsomeness  must 
cause  her,  that  now  clouds  all  her  beauty. 

Who  can  fail  to  see  the  parallel  between  this  earthly 
bride  and  the  soul  confined  in  the  prison  of  God's 
holiness  and  justice,  stained  with  the  effects  of  her  trans¬ 
gressions,  yet  yearning  inexpressibly  for  the  Vision  of 
His  glory.  Freed  from  all  earthliness  she  tends  towards 


24 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


Him  as  the  arrow  to  its  mark,  and  yet  for  all  her  long¬ 
ing  is  unable  to  attain  to  Him.  Keenly  she  feels  those 
dreadful  disfigurements  which  once  passed  unnoticed 
here  below.  But  for  her,  too,  one  consolation  remains, 
and  that  is  that  the  severance  is  not  eternal  which  now 
holds  her  afar  from  her  supreme  and  only  Good. 

How  easily  she  could  have  won  God’s  pardon  here  on 
earth  by  contrition,  confession  and  a  sincere  purpose  of 
amendment!  As  St.  Basil  says:  “When  through  confes¬ 
sion  we  make  known  our  sins,  we  have  caused  the  rankly 
growing  weeds  to  wither  which  deserve  to  be  harvested 
for  Purgatory  and  consumed  there.”  But  now  she  can 
do  nothing  for  herself.  Who  then  can  measure  the  grati¬ 
tude  of  that  soul  towards  those  who  remember  her  in 
the  time  of  her  great  distress  and  both  help  to  cleanse 
awav  her  stains  and  to  hasten  the  hour  of  her  blissful 
union  with  her  Beloved !  How  earnestly  she  will  remem¬ 
ber  them  at  the  Throne  of  His  Mercy ! 

4.  The  Pain  of  Sense 

Incomprehensible  as  the  greatness  of  the  punishment 
of  loss  must  be  to  us  here  upon  earth,  the  pain  of  sense, 
though  less  in  itself,  may  often  impress  the  imagination 
far  more  profoundly.  What  the  nature  of  this  punish¬ 
ment  is  has  never  been  dogmatically  affirmed  by  the 
Church.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  Faith ;  but  the  main  weight 
of  tradition,  and  the  universal  belief  of  the  Faithful 
can  be  said  to  be  summed  up  in  the  belief  that  the  souls 
in  Purgatory  are  punished  by  fire.  St.  Thomas  thus 
expresses  in  brief  his  doctrine  upon  the  subject  of  purga- 
tional  punishments : 

In  Purgatory  the  suffering  is  two-fold:  that  of  loss,  inasmuch 
as  the  soul  is  kept  back  from  the  Vision  of  God ;  and  that  of 
sense,  since  they  shall  be  punished  with  fire.  Now  in  both  re¬ 
spects,  the  least  pain  in  Purgatory  exceeds  the  greatest  pain 
in  this  life. 

Whether  this  contrast  of  the  least  pain  of  Purgatory 
with  the  greatest  pain  of  this  life  holds  absolutely  true 
or  not,  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  the  conclusion  of 
various  authorities  that  these  sufferings,  in  general,  are 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


25 


far  more  severe  than  any  endured  upon  earth.  Re¬ 
ferring  particularly  to  the  pain  of  fire  St.  Augustine  says, 
in  commenting  on  Psalm  xxxvii,  that  it  “is  more  severe 
than  any  that  man  can  suffer  in  this  life.”  The  very 
same  statement  is  made  by  St.  Gregory  the  Great. 

5.  The  Fire  of  Purgatory 

That  there  is  question  here  of  real  fire  seems  evidently 
to  have  been  the  belief  of  the  very  earliest  Christians. 
Going  back  to  the  inscriptions  contained  in  the  catacombs 
we  find  constant  allusion  made  to  procuring  refreshment 
for  the  souls  of  the  departed.  This  would  seem  to  imply 
the  giving  of  relief  or  release  from  the  heat  of  those 
fiercely  burning  flames.  Thus  St.  Ambrose,  in  the  early 
centuries  of  the  Church,  interpreted  the  Pauline  text, 
I  Cor.  iii:15,  which  we  have  already  quoted;  and 
Theodoret  wrote  upon  the  same  passage :  “We  believe 
that  is  that  cleansing  fire  in  which  the  souls  are  purified 
as  gold  in  the  furnace.”  The  same  interpretation  is 
given  to  this  text  by  St.  Jerome  and  various  Fathers, 
while  others  interpret  it  figuratively. 

Both  Greek  and  Latin  Fathers  speak  of  the  flames  of 
Purgatory.  St  Basil  and  St.  Gregory  of  Nyssa  already 
definitely  refer  to  it  as  “purgatorial  fire.”  Owing  to  the 
opposition  of  Greek  theologians  the  question  whether 
the  souls  in  Purgatory  are  punished  by  fire  was  left  un¬ 
decided  at  the  Council  of  Florence.  Yet  several  Greek 
Fathers  had  been  clear  in  their  affirmation  that  the  souls 
of  the  just  are  cleansed  by  fire.  In  modern  times  Suarez 
was  able  to  state  that  such  is  the  common  teaching  of 
all  theologians  and  that  they  agree  in  admitting  a  true 
and  real  fire.  St  Thomas  and  St.  Bonaventure  alike  held 
that :  “It  is  one  and  the  same  fire  which  torments  the  lost 
in  Hell  and  cleanses  the  just  in  Purgatory.” 

Catholics  in  general  are  accustomed  to  speak  without 
any  hesitation  of  the  fire  of  Purgatory,  and  in  doing  so 
are  in  conformity  with  many  of  the  great  Fathers  and 
Doctors  of  the  Church,  and  with  the  classic  opinion  of 
theologians.  That  the  pains  inflicted  are  certainly  more 
terrible  than  any  suffered  upon  earth  we  can  have  no. 


26 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


difficulty  in  believing,  if  we  have  any  understanding  of 
the  meaning  of  sin,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  nature  of 
the  attributes  of  an  infinite  God  on  the  other,  a  God  who 
is  no  less  infinitely  just,  infinitely  pure,  and  infinitely 
holy;  that  He  is  infinitely  merciful,  and  infinitely  loving. 
It  is  to  these  last  attributes  that  we  ascribe  the  blessed  op¬ 
portunity  granted  us  of  extending  a  helping  hand  to  the 
sufferers  in  those  purgatorial  flames,  and  of  even  re¬ 
leasing  them  entirely  in  return  for  our  offerings  and  sup¬ 
plications  accepted  in  their  regard. 

6.  Communion  of  Saints 

How  happy  then  to  know  that  we  are  part  of  a  mighty 
fellowship,  of  a  glorious  company,  united  by  ties  of 
affection  that  reach  beyond  the  grave  into  eternity ! 
Through  the  Communion  of  Saints  we  are  joined  by 
links  of  intimate  relationship  in  Christ  with  the  Blessed 
in  Heaven  and  with  the  souls  of  all  the  Faithful  departed 
in  Purgatory. 

Deep  and  true  is  the  affection  that  the  Saints  in  glory 
have  for  us,  and  great  is  their  willingness  to  come  to 
our  aid;  but  we  in  our  turn  must  be  equally  alert  to 
succor  and  relieve  those  who  may  depend  upon  us, 
whether  in  this  life  or  in  the  next.  What  thought, 
especially,  can  be  more  consoling  than  to  know  that  we 
can  still  bring  comfort,  and  perhaps  quick  release  from 
pain,  to  those  whom  on  earth  we  once  loved  so  dearly; 
that  we  can  hasten  to  their  help  and  reach  out  to  their 
parched  lips,  at  any  moment,  the  blessed  cup  of  cooling 
water. 

But  not  only  are  we  to  remember  our  own  dear  de¬ 
parted.  Our  love  should  seek  to  come  to  the  assistance 
of  all  detained  in  that  prison  house  of  God,  that  place 
of  expiation  and  purification  where  so  many  of  His 
dearest  friends  are  imploring  our  pity  in  accents  of 
deepest  yearning  and  distress. 

Never,  to  our  own  knowledge,  was  the  pleading  of 
the  souls  in  those  cleasing  fires  expressed  in  a  strain  more 
appealing  and  in  words  more  tuneful  and  compelling, 
outside  of  the  Holy  Books,  than  in  that  “Appeal  of  the 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


27 


Suffering  Souls”  which  was  found  among  the  papers  of 
an  Irish  Jesuit  Father,  the  Rev.  James  Murphy.  Here 
are  his  verses  in  full  as  they  appeared  in  the  Irish  Mes¬ 
senger  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  Yet  in  their  simplicity  they 
are  nothing  more  than  a  varied  application  of  that  verse 
of  Job:  “Have  pity  on  me,  have  pity  on  me,  at  least 
you,  my  friends,  because  the  hand  of  the  Lord  hath 
touched  me.”  Ceaselessly  they  re-echo  all  the  plain¬ 
tiveness  of  those  mighty  syllables  of  sorrow,  like  a  sea- 
shell  still  reverberating  with  the  rhythm  of  the  long- 
resounding  ocean  surf. 

In  the  Morning 

When  the  pure  air  comes  unbreathed  and  the  fresh  fields  lie 
untrod, 

When  the  lark’s  song  rises  upward  and  the  wet  flowers  deck 
the  sod; 

In  the  time  of  early  praying,  in  the  hushed  and  holy  morn, 

Hear  those  voices  softly  pleading,  hear  those  low  words  inter¬ 
ceding, 

From  the  green  graves  lonesome  lying, 

Ever  more  in  sad  tones  crying: 

‘‘Have  pity!  you  at  least  have  pity,  you,  my  friends.” 

Itf  the  Noontide 

When  the  hot  earth  also  slumbers  and  the  treetop  scarcely  stirs, 
When  the  bee  sleeps  in  the  lily  and  the  hare  pants  by  the  furze, 
When  the  stream  breeze  softly  cools  you  and  the  grateful  shade 
invites, 

While  the  hot  skies  far  are  glowing,  think  of  pain,  no  respite 
knowing, 

And  those  prison  fires  appalling, 

And  those  piteous  voices  calling : 

“Have  pity !  you  at  least  have  pity,  you,  my  friends.” 

In  the  Evening 

When  the  long  day’s  cares  are  ended  and  the  house  group  soon 
shall  meet, 

When  the  silent  twilight  deepens  and  comes  rest  for  weary  feet, 
In  the  time  of  sad  remembrance  give  a  prayer  to  old  friends  gone. 


28 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


Some  regret,  some  feelings  tender,  to  past  days  and  scenes  sur¬ 
render, 

Let  your  heart  with  mournful  greeting 

Hear  the  sad  refrain  repeating: 

"'Have  pity  l  you  at  least  have  pity,  you,  my  friends." 

In  the  Nighttime 

When  the  stars  are  set  in  ether  and  the  white  moon  in  a  cloud, 
When  the  children's  hands  are  folded  and  the  golden  heads  are 
bowed, 

Tell  them  of  that  fearful  burning,  of  those  souls  in  torture  dire, 
Expiating  pride  and  folly  in  the  purifying  fire. 

Let  their  sinless  hearts  adoring  reach  Christ’s  throne  in  sweet 
imploring : 

By  those  faces  lost  forever, 

By  those  smiles  to  greet  thee  never, 

By  the  memories  of  past  days, 

And  the  kindness  of  old  ways, 

By  the  love  in  life  you  bore  them, 

And  the  tears  in  death  shed  o’er  them, 

By  their  words  and  looks  in  dying, 

Hear  their  plaintive  voices  crying: 

“Have  pity !  you  at  least  have  pity,  you,  my  friends." 


PART  IV. 


HOW  TO  HELP  THE  POOR 

SOULS 

1.  Practice  of  the  Christian  Ages 

Supplication,  as  we  have  seen,  was  made  for  the  souls 
of  the  dead  by  priests  and  people  in  the  Old  Testament. 
From  the  very  beginning  of  Christianity  we  find  this 
practice  to  have  been  characteristic  of  the  charity  of  the 
first  believers.  Through  all  the  ages  of  the  Church  the 
Faithfully  have  piously  remembered  the  dead  in  their 
offerings  and  intercessions,  and  the  priests  have  recom¬ 
mended  them  to  God  in  their  Holy  Sacrifices^  The 
custom  described  by  St.  Ephrem  in  the  first  centuries  of 
Christianity  is  equally  observed  today. 

“My  brethren,  come  to  me,  and  prepare  me  for  my 
departure/’  he  wrote  in  setting  down  his  testament,  and 
then  continued  to  describe  what  he  wished  they  should 
do  for  him  after  his  death :  “Go  along  with  me  in  psalms 
and  in  your  prayers,  and  fail  not  constantly  to  make 
oblations  for  me.”  Particularly  he  calls  attention  to 
the  month’s  mind,  offered  then  as  now :  “When  the 
thirtieth  day  shall  be  completed,  then  remember  me.”  So, 
too,  even  before  this  time,  Tertullian  calls  attention  to  the 
anniversary  Sacrifice  for  the  dead.  And  what  could  be 
more  explicit  than  the  explanation  offered  in  those  early 
ages  by  St.  Cyril  of  Jersalem  describing  the  liturgy  in 
the  forth  century,  precisely  as  we  find  it  observed  in  the 
twentieth  century  within  the  same  Catholic  Church? 

We  commemmorate  all  who  in  past  years  have  fallen  asleep 
among  us,  believing  that  it  will  be  a  very  great  advantage  to  the 
souls  for  whom  the  supplication  is  put  up,  while  that  holy  and 
most  awful  Sacrifice  is  presented.  (Oxford.  Transl.  p.  275. 
Catech.  myst.  5,  9.) 

Thus  we  see  how  all  the  centuries  of  Christianity  are 
united  in  one  and  the  same  faith,  and  one  and  the  same 


30 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


practice;  for  turning  to  the  Council  of  Trent  we  find 
the  teaching  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Fathers  repeated 
no  less  clearly  in  affirming  the  existence  of  Purgatory, 
and  adding  that:  “The  souls  therein  detained  are  aided 
by  the  suffrages  of  the  Faithful  and  principally  by  the 
acceptable  Sacrifice  of  the  Altar.” 

What  Catholic  mother  of  today  would  not  die  joy¬ 
fully  repeating  to  her  own  priest  son  the  words  of  Monica 
to  her  Augustine?  “Lay  this  body  anywhere;  be  not 
concerned  about  that.  One  favor  only  do  I  beg  of  you: 
that  wherever  you  may  be,  you  will  always  make  a  re¬ 
membrance  of  me,  when  you  stand  at  the  Altar  of  God.” 

2.  The  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  first  and  most  powerful 
means  by  which  we  can  come  to  the  aid  of  the  dear  de¬ 
parted  is  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass.  Such  is  the 
tradition  of  the  Church  through  all  the  centuries.  Noth¬ 
ing  could  be  more  plain  from  the  many  quotations  al¬ 
ready  scattered  over  these  pages.  The  oldest  Roman 
Sacramentarium,  that  of  Leo,  dating  back  to  about  the 
year  450  contains  six  different  Mass  formulas  for  the 
dead.  Parts  of  these  prayers  are  in 'fact  in  our  Missals 
to  the  present  day.  Going  back  to  the  catacombs  we 
meet  with  the  image  of  the  soul  in  blessedness  as  the 
fruit  of  the  Holy  Sacrifice. 

The  gilds  of  the  Middle  Ages  secured  the  services  of 
as  many  chaplains  as  they  could  that  numerous  Masses 
might  be  said  for  their  dead  immediately  after  their  de¬ 
parture  from  this  life,  and  that  they  might  thereafter 
also  be  remembered  in  the  Holy  Sacrifice.  Such  is  the 
tradition  of  the  entire  Church  from  Apostolic  days.  Love 
for  the  dead  can  show  itself  in  no  better  way  than  in  the 
Masses,  said  or  sung,  that  are  offered  for  them.  The 
Church  herself  accords  special  privileges  by  which  High 
Masses  of  Requiem  can  be  celebrated  every  day,  except 
on  Sundays  and  on  some  great  feasts  of  the  year,  to¬ 
gether  with  their  octaves.  The  added  solemnity  implies 
also  an  added  glory  given  to  Almighty  God,  and  a  spe¬ 
cial  benefit  for  the  suffering  souls. 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


31 


Our  offerings  for  the  dead  will  naturally  be  propor¬ 
tioned  to  our  means.  But  all  are  able  to  show  from 
time  to  time  their  charity  to  the  dead,  and  to  remember 
their  own  dear  departed.  Catholics  should  show  by  their 
example  that  they  realize  that  Masses  are  of  all  but 
infinitely  greater  importance  at  the  passing  of  the  soul 
into  eternity  than  precious  caskets  and  mounds  of  flow¬ 
ers.  The  beauty  of  modest  flowery  wreaths  is  not  in¬ 
deed  out  of  place  to  cheer  the  living  and  may  well  be 
a  sweet  act  of  charity  to  them  in  their  desolation;  but 
the  Masses  for  the  dead  are  the  one  supreme  thing  to 
bear  in  mind.  Let  retrenchments  be  made  anywhere 
except  here.  Let  there  be,  not  one  only,  but  many 
Masses ;  and  let  the  souls  not  be  forgotten  with  the 
months  and  years.  Yet  how  often  is  not  the  contrary 
the  practice  of  thoughtless  Christians,  who  while  mean¬ 
ing  to  be  kind  in  their  lavish  funeral  expenses  are  in 
reality  unspeakably  cruel  to  their  dead,  cherishing  the 
lifeless  form,  and  leaving  the  soul  to  smart  in  pain. 

3.  Gaining  Indulgences 

In  the  next  place  there  is  that  treasury  of  the  super¬ 
abundant  merits  and  satisfactions  of  Christ  and  His 
Saints,  which  we  can  never  exhaust,  and  from  which  we 
may  draw  ceaselessly  through  the  indulgences  the  Church 
grants  us,  and  which  she  generally  permits  us  to  apply 
to  the  souls  in  Purgatory.  Unspeakably  great  are  the 
indulgences  of  the  Way  of  the  Cross,  the  various  in¬ 
dulgences  of  the  Rosary  and  Scapular,  and  those  con¬ 
nected  with  so  many  sodalities,  confraternities  and  re¬ 
ligious  societies.  With  every  Communion  a  plenary  in¬ 
dulgence  can  be  gained  for  the  Poor  Souls  under  the 
proper  conditions.  Thus  to  obtain  such  an  indulgence 
after  Confession  and  Communion,  the  Faithful  need  but 
delay  to  recite  before  an  image  of  the  Crucified,  such  as 
they  will  find  over  every  altar,  that  short  and  beautiful 
prayer  so  familiar  to  all : 

Behold,  O  kind  and  sweet  Jesus,  I  cast  myself  upon  my  knees 

in  Thy  sight,  and  with  the  most  fervent  desires  of  my  soul  I 


32 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


pray  and  beseech  Thee  that  Thou  wouldst  impress  upon  my 
heart  lively  sentiments  of  faith,  hope  and  charity,  with  true 
repentence  for  my  sins,  and  a  firm  desire  of  amendment,  whilst 
with  deep  affection  and  grief  of  soul  I  ponder  within  myself, 
and  mentally  contemplate  Thy  five  most  precious  wounds ;  having 
before  my  eyes  that  which  David  in  prophecy  made  Thee  say 
concerning  Thyself,  O  good  Jesus:  “They  have  pierced  my 
hands  and  feet,  they  have  numbered  all  my  bones.” 

In  addition  some  prayers  must  here  be  said  for  the 
intention  of  the  Holy  Father  that  this  plenary  indul¬ 
gence  may  be  gained.  The  custom  of  the  Faithful  is  here 
to  recite  five  “Our  Fathers”  and  five  “Hail  Marys,” 
although  no  special  prayers  arc  assigned.  To  gain  more 
than  one  plenary  indulgence,  to  which  we  may  for  vari¬ 
ous  reasons  be  entitled,  we  must  for  each  make  a  separ¬ 
ate  visit  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  where  such  a  condi¬ 
tion  is  definitely  assigned.  Special  privileges  are  ac¬ 
corded  by  the  Church  to  those  who  have  made  the  “he¬ 
roic  act”  in  favor  of  the  souls  in  Purgatory. 

4.  Power  of  Good  Works 

Other  good  works,  too,  may  be  performed  for  the 
Poor  Souls.  Especially  approved  throughout  all  the 
history  of  the  Church  has  been  the  offering  of  alms  for 
their  sake.  We  are  told  that  as  water  extingushes  fire, 
so  alms  destroy  sins.  Without  any  doubt,  says  St.  Au¬ 
gustine,  “will  the  departed  souls  obtain  relief  when  the 
Sacrifice  of  the  Mediator  (i.  e.  the  Holy  Mass)  is  of¬ 
fered  for  them,  or  alms  are  spent  in  the  Church.”  {enchi¬ 
ridion,  c.  110.)  Such  alms  may  of  course  be  given 
anywhere.  “We  are  too  forgetful  of  our  dear  departed,” 
St.  Francis  de  Sales  often  said,  and  he  makes  this  beau¬ 
tiful  comparison  between  the  corporal  works  of  mercy 
and  our  assistance  granted  the  souls  in  Purgatory,  with¬ 
out  wishing  to  lessen  our  zeal  for  the  former: 

We  like  to  perform  works  of  mercy,  and  do  not  remember 
that  in  endeavoring  to  obtain  relief  for  these  poor  souls  we  shall 
practice  almost  all  the  works  of  mercy  at  one  and  the  same 
time.  Is  this  not  to  console  the  sorrowing,  to  assist  the  sick,  to 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


33 


visit  the  prisoners,  to  free  them  or  to  lighten  the  weight  of 
their  chains;  is  this  not  to  practise  hospitality,  by  conducting 
these  children  of  God  into  the  house  of  their  Heavenly  Father. 
You  give  clothing  to  those  in  need  of  it,  but  is  it  not  even 
better  to  clothe  these  suffering  members  of  the  mystic  body  of 
Jesus  Christ  with  undying  glory. 

St.  Margaret  Mary  suggests  the  performance  of  acts 
of  different  virtues,  of  purity  of  intention,  of  humility,  of 
meekness  and  kindness,  to  be  offered  up  for  these  souls. 
'“But  as  pride  is  the  heaviest  debt,”  she  counselled  her 
novices,  “you  will  make  as  many  acts  of  humility  as  you 
can.”  No  one  can  fail  to  see  how  such  charity  towards 
the  Poor  Souls  must  beget  in  those  who  practise  it  the 
highest  degree  of  perfection,  while  the  neglect  of  these 
sufferers  may  in  turn  withdraw  a  large  measure  of  God’s 
grace  and  mercy  from  the  soul  that  refuses  charity  to  the 
dead.  Prayers  offered  for  such  a  soul  may  never  be 
applied  to  her  by  Almighty  God,  but  may  be  given  to 
others. 

In  the  Memoire  des  Contempomines  we  read  of  St. 
Margaret  Mary,  that  while  she  was  praying  for  two  per¬ 
sons  who  had  been  of  some  note  in  the  world,  one  was 
shown  to  her  as  condemned  for  long  years  to  the  pains 
of  Purgatory.  All  the  prayers  and  suffrages  which  were 
offered  to  God  for  his  repose,  she  tells  us,  were  applied 
by  the  Divine  Justice  to  the  souls  of  some  families,  who 
had  been  ruined  by  his  defect  of  charity  and  equity  in 
their  regard.  The  surviving  members  had  nothing  left 
to  have  Masses  said  for  their  departed,  and  the  Lord 
thus  supplied  for  them.  Large  bequests  for  Masses  can¬ 
not  in  themselves  bribe  Almighty  God  to  overlook  the 
carelessness  or  want  of  charity  on  the  part  of  those 
who  have  disregarded  the  needs  of  others,  whether  call¬ 
ing  for  help  in  this  life  or  in  the  next. 

5.  The  Sacred  Heart  and  Mary 

St.  Margaret  Mary  recommends  as  a  sovereign  remedy 
for  the  Poor  Souls  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart,  and 
particularly  Masses  in  its  honor.  Thus  she  once  asked 
a  person  to  have  fifteen  Masses  said  in  honor  of  the 


THE  SOULS  IN  PURGATORY 


34 


Sacred  Heart  for  a  certain  soul.  “After  which  it  seems 
to  me,”  she  added,  “he  will  proceed  into  glory,  and  will 
be  for  you  and  his  whole  family  a  powerful  advocate 
near  the  Sacred  Heart.”  Is  it  not  worth  while  for  us 
to  make  such  friends  with  God? 

1  he  Saint  herself  had  the  greatest  love  for  the  Poor 
Souls,  and  one  Holy  Thursday,  while  watching  before 
the  Blessed  Sacrament,  she  felt  herself  surrounded  by 
these  poor  sufferers.  “Our  Lord  told  me,”  she  writes, 
“that  He  gave  me  to  them  for  that  whole  year,  in  order 
to  do  for  them  all  the  good  that  I  could.”  While  she  en¬ 
dured  the  greatest  sufferigns  for  these  souls  she  was 
granted  also  the  reward  of  an  intimate  knowledge  con¬ 
cerning  them.  Two  of  the  souls  for  whom  she  had  in¬ 
terceded  were  beheld  by  her  taken  up  into  glory.  “If 
you  knew,”  she  wrote  to  her  superior  regarding  them, 
“how  transported  my  soul  has  been,  for  in  speaking  to 
them,  I  saw  them,  little  by  little,  absorbed  and  drawn  up 
into  glory,  like  a  person  merged  in  a  vast  ocean.” 

Though  these  brief  references  are  made  here  to  the 
visions  of  this  great  Saint  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  we  have 
purposely  refrained  from  recounting  any  other  of  the 
countless  similar  narratives  of  sainted  persons,  which  all 
agree  in  the  substance  of  their  accounts.  The  object  of 
this  brief  treatise  has  been  to  deal  with  the  subject  of 
Purgatory  on  the  basis  of  Scripture  and  of  Patristic  tra¬ 
dition,  and  to  present  the  teaching  and  practice  of  the 
Church. 

Considering  our  subject  from  a  purely  spiritual  point 
of  view,  we  know  that  one  of  the  most  ardent  desires  of 
the  Heart  of  Christ  is  without  any  doubt  the  liberation 
of  these  suffering  souls,  for  they  are  the  souls  of  the 
just  whom  nothing  can  ever  wrest  from  Him  hereafter. 

But  next  to  the  Heart  of  Christ  there  is  none  who 
so  loves  these  souls  as  Mary.  Brimmed  with  pity  and 
tender  love  for  them  is  that  Heart  which  mothers  all 
the  world,  and  whose  intercession  is  so  mighty  with  her 
Divine  Son.  Surely  devotion  to  Mary  must  be  a  power¬ 
ful  master  key  to  unlock  those  prison  gates  and  set  free 
her  children  mourning  there  and  waiting  our  help  in 
those  searching  fires  of  God’s  punishment. 


CONTENTS 


I.  Modern  Protestant  Views 

1.  Prayers  for  the  Dead 

2.  Present-Day  Spiritism 

3.  Catholic  Doctrine  Reasonable 

4.  Nature  of  Indulgences 

5.  Indulgences  and  the  Reformation 

6.  Protestant  Theologians 

7.  Return  to  Catholic  Doctrine 

II.  The  Proofs  for  Purgatory 

1.  The  Catholic  Doctrine 

2.  To  the  Last  Farthing 

3.  Proof  from  Old  Testament 

4.  Proof  from  New  Testament 

5.  Earliest  Christian  Writings 

6.  “Holy  Common  Sense” 

III.  Why  Aid  the  Poor  Souls? 

1.  Duration  of  Purgatory 

2.  The  Pain  of  Loss 

3.  The  Imprisoned  Bride 

4.  The  Pain  of  Sense 

5.  The  Fire  of  Purgatory 

6.  The  Communion  of  Saints 

7.  The  Pleading  of  the  Souls 

IV.  How  to  Help  the  Poor  Souls 

1.  Practice  of  the  Christian  Ages 

2.  The  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass 

3.  Gaining  of  Indulgences 

4.  Power  of  Good  Works 

5.  The  Sacred  Heart  and  Mary 


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